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US consults with allies on timing of new UN sanctions over Darfur
AFP
UNITED NATIONS
Petroleumworld.com 05 30 07The United States is consulting with its allies in the Security Council on the content and timing of a resolution broadening economic and military sanctions against Sudan, its ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday.
"I don't have anything on the timing at this point," Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters shortly after US President George W. Bush tightened US sanctions on Sudan over "genocide" in Darfur and pushed for a tough new UN resolution to punish Khartoum.
"We will move forward on the resolution," he said, but as to the timing and content, he said: "We just started consulting."
Bush earlier said he had directed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to seek a new UN resolution to broaden economic sanctions on Sudanese leaders, expand an arms embargo on Sudan, and bar Sudanese military flights over Darfur.
He also ordered tougher sanctions to bar another 31 Sudanese companies, including oil exporters, from US trade and financial dealings, and take aim at two top Sudanese government officials accused of atrocities there.
Khalilzad said he consulted with UN chief Ban Ki-moon over the planned sanctions.
And he reaffirmed US support for the United Nations' three-legged approach, which is to seek progress on broadening last year's peace deal between Khartoum and Darfur rebels, on deployment of a robust, joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force in Darfur and on improved humanitarian access.
The US envoy demanded that Khartoum stop attacks against rebels and civilians in Darfur, dismantle its Janjaweed proxy Arab militias which are blamed for deadly attacks on Darfur civilians, allow humanitarian access to displaced civilians and agree quickly to the deployment of the planned 23,000-strong joint AU-UN force to replace ill-equipped AU peacekeepers in the war-torn region.
France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said for his part that his government was ready to support new sanctions.
"We are of the view that working on sanctions would be useful but we have to consult with other members of the council," he told reporters. "Maybe sanctions won't be necessary. Maybe they will."
AFP 29 1755 GMT 05 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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